Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $71.75 and last traded at $71.37, with a volume of 300051 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SUN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Sunoco in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sunoco from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $74.13.

Sunoco Stock Down 2.3%

The company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $66.36 and its 200 day moving average is $59.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $1.14. The company had revenue of $10.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. Sunoco had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 106.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sunoco LP will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sunoco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.9899 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. This is a boost from Sunoco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Sunoco’s payout ratio is 101.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunoco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sunoco by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 24,856,265 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,302,717,000 after purchasing an additional 766,781 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,179,502 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $159,007,000 after acquiring an additional 374,396 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,916,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $95,862,000 after acquiring an additional 32,866 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,639,420 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,922,000 after acquiring an additional 617,700 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Sunoco by 266.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,626,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $85,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,662 shares during the period. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sunoco Company Profile

Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) is an independent master limited partnership that specializes in the distribution and marketing of transportation fuels and related products. The company operates through two primary segments: wholesale fuel distribution and retail marketing. In wholesale distribution, Sunoco supplies branded fuels to distributors, commercial customers and resellers across the United States. Its retail marketing arm operates a network of company?owned and franchised Sunoco branded service stations and convenience stores, providing gasoline, diesel, ethanol blends and lubricants to consumers.

Sunoco’s product portfolio extends beyond traditional fuels to include biofuels, specialty chemicals and on?road diesel treated to meet ultra?low sulfur requirements.